


Homegrown hearts and paper stars

by galaxylove



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of violence later, Side Sahyo, Timeskips, nothing too bad though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-13 15:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12987240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxylove/pseuds/galaxylove
Summary: “Hey,” she said, looking over at the girl who was succumbing to sleep next to her, “the stars told me to marry you y’know.”She almost thought that Mina was actually asleep, had it not been for the soft smile that stretched across her face.“Mama was right,” she said, facing the ceiling with her eyes still shut, “the stars must be very wise.”





	1. Homegrown hearts and paper stars

**Author's Note:**

> Mimo might be dead but they're alive in my drafts

    Momo, despite her young age, knew a handful of definitive things.

  She knew that when she woke up in the morning, she would see her mother and her father and she would eat her breakfast and go to school. She knew that when she scored a goal with the ball her favourite auntie got her for her sixth birthday, it felt a _little_ bit more special than scoring with just a regular old ball. She knew that her parents loved her a lot, and that the little old lady three doors away made the best cookies she’d _ever_ had in the entire seven years of her life, and that strawberry milkshake was her absolute favourite drink in the world.

  She also knew, that when she kicked her favourite ball into the next door neighbour’s back garden, it was probably lost forever.

  She held back her tears because her mum said that she was a big girl now and according to the girls in her class only babies cry, so she wiped her eyes and thought about her next course of action. Eyeing the six foot fence separating her from her neighbours garden, she stomped her feet to light up her barbie sneakers (something she only did in _super_ serious situations) and set off at a dead sprint.

  Launching her gangly frame at the fence, she flailed frantically  with half an arm over the top, feet scrambling desperately for purchase halfway up the fence. She found a groove and her foot settled, and she used all her strength to pull the rest of her body up and over to finally see the mysterious land beyond her garden fence.

  She wasn’t expecting to see a curious face staring back at her, little fingers clasped tightly onto her ball against her chest. The girl was pretty, and she looked nothing like the boys Momo played football with at school (she looked almost like a princess, Momo thought) but her face didn’t show disgust like the other girls in her class. They looked at Momo like she was some weird alien covered in dirt and grime just because she preferred to spend her recess running around with the boys kicking a ball over playing mums and dads in the teahouse. (Admittedly, Momo _was_ always covered in dirt and grime but she definitely wasn’t an alien. Her parents assured her that she was definitely born on Earth and not from some distant galaxy, even though that would have been _suuuuuper_ cool.)

  “Is this your ball?” Her voice was soft and high, trilling like the bell on Momo’s bicycle.

   _Woah, she even sounded like a princess,_ Momo thought.

  “Yeah! That’s my ball right there!” She huffed back, starting to struggle with holding her weight up all this time. Maybe she should listen to her dad and actually eat all of her vegetables. “Can you kick it back to me?”

  The curious gaze dropped to the floor, dainty foot dragging sheepishly in the grass.

  “I’ve never kicked a ball before.” She mumbled at the floor.

  “That’s okay!” Momo scrambled, almost losing her footing in her haste to comfort this stranger. “It’s really easy. You just hold it out, and drop it, and BAM! like that!”

  She tried to demonstrate as best as she could whilst clinging to the top of the fence, but it seems the girl got the gist because she looked at Momo (who was grinning wildly at her) and nodded once.

  “Okay.”

  She took a step back and held the ball out, tongue sticking out to the side of her mouth in determined concentration. She swung her leg back a few times, practicing a little before taking a deep breath and letting the ball drop. It fell, and her leg swung forward rapidly and connected, sending the ball towards the fence - and Momo’s face.

  Momo saw stars which was strange because it was only the afternoon, but she was staring up at the blue sky on her back in her own garden with a smarting pain blooming across her face. She’d been hit by footballs plenty of times before, but never by someone as deceptively strong as the little girl over the fence.

  “Oh my goodness are you okay? I’m so _so_ sorry!”

  Momo looked away from the sky and back towards the fence, looking at the skinny limbs holding a delicate body just enough to let her see over the fence. The girl’s face was painted with worry, babbling apologies and she almost looked close to tears over this stranger she hardly knew.

  Momo let out a laugh, ignoring the pain in her face and rolled over clutching her belly. The apologies tumbling over the girls’ lips halted, the girl probably caught off guard by Momo’s reaction.

(Her face _really_ hurt, but she didn’t like to see anyone cry. _Especially_ princesses.)

  “That’s okay. That was a _really_ good kick.”

  Her smile grew. Momo could see her gums when she smiled like this.

  “Hey, do you wanna come over and play with me?”

 

  Three hours later, Momo had learned that this girl was called Mina, and she was surprisingly good at football. She also went to the same school as her but in a different class, she was learning how to play the guitar and she promised Momo that she would come over again to play tomorrow.

 

  Mina came over a lot after that. She came over straight after she had finished her homework (because Mina was a good student like that. Momo eyed her half-done homework with a little bit of guilt) and played with Momo until her mother called her home for dinner. Momo went over to Mina’s house a few times to play too, but Mina said she preferred playing at Momo’s house because it was cooler and they had more things to play with there.

  Mina also really liked sitting in Momo’s tree-house for hours on end.

  Playing in the tree-house was Momo’s second favourite thing to do, just behind playing football, but going into the tree-house was Mina’s number _one_ favourite thing to do - and Momo really liked seeing Mina’s smile so she could wait another day if it meant making Mina happy.

  They would clamber up the sturdy wooden ladder Momo’s mother had put together out of spare wood, taking careful steps because they were both super sensible and knew that nothing was fun if you had a broken leg, and spend the afternoon drawing scenes from their favourite shows or showing each other their favourite books. Sometimes they would play pirates with the slightly wonky hook Momo made from the ornaments in her father’s display case, and other days they would lay on their backs and gaze at the cut out stars they had placed on the ceiling.

  Every single day Mina would leave when her mother’s voice rang out from across the fence, huffing softly as she climbed down the ladder with careful, sullen steps and a soft “see you tomorrow Momo”. And every single day, Momo would mope around the house waiting for tomorrow to come so she could see Mina again.

  So one day, when that tell tale voice came from across the fence and a familiar, begrudging expression stole it’s way across Mina’s face, Momo began to plan on how to make Mina stay for longer. She sat at the dinner table with her parents, absently pushing around the last bit of her vegetables with her fork before asking a question.

  “Mama, how come you and dad are always together?”

  Her mother’s fork paused midway to her mouth, suspended in motion as she looked across the table to her husband. He shrugged amusedly, shoving a forkful of his own food into his mouth.

  “What do you mean sweetie?” Her mother asked gently.

  “Like,” Momo huffed, setting down her fork, “you and dad always get to stay together, and spend as much time together as you want. You don’t have to go anywhere else to eat dinner or anything, so how do you do that?”

  A knowing smile appeared on her father’s face, setting down his fork and swallowing his food.

  “It’s because we love each other honey.” He rested a hand on Momo’s shoulders, glancing lovingly at his wife, who looked back fondly. “One day when you get a little older, and find someone as important to you as your mother is to me, then you can be together as much as you like.”

  Momo sat back, seemingly satisfied with that answer and began thinking about the next stage of her plan.

 

  The next day, the same routine knock on the door came just as Momo finished her homework. She opened the door, and grabbed Mina’s wrist to yank her inside, barely allowing the girl to breathe as she tugged her through the house and into her back garden. Mina followed, albeit a little confused, and smiled back at the big grin adorning Momo’s face even though she had _no_ idea what it was for.

  “Hi!”

  “Hi.” Mina responded softly, stretching onto her tiptoes as she looked around the garden. Momo’s ball was tucked neatly by the side of the shed, which was weird because she usually at least _tried_ to convince Mina to play ball with her a little bit.

  “What are we doing today?”

  Momo grinned and tugged Mina’s wrist again, leading them both to the ladder of her tree-house.

  “I thought we could stargaze today.”

  She knocked her knee in her haste to clamber into the tree-house, but it didn’t hurt so bad when Mina giggled softly behind her, little fingers pressing into her ankle soothingly. She pulled Mina up behind her, laughing as they both tumbled into soft, fluffy blankets. They both lay on their backs, pointing out their favourite ever-so-slightly-wonky constellations stuck to the ceiling for a little while. Momo’s chubby little fingers wrapped tightly around the plastic ring tucked deep in her pocket (that cost her a whole _half_ of her weekly allowance from the claw machine) and sat up suddenly, bringing a slightly confused Mina with her. She’s seen this happen on TV, so she knows _exactly_ how this goes. She thunks down on one knee in front of Mina, clearing her throat dramatically.

  “Mina, will you marry me?”

  The girl gasped, free hand flying to her chest in excitement. Her mouth gaped a few times, as if she was thinking very hard about her words before she finally answered.

  “You can’t just ask to marry me straight away! Mama says you have to have a boyfriend before you get married _silly_.”

  Momo mulled this over in her head, tiny brows knitting together in concentration.

  “Okay then, be my girlfriend first, and _then_ we can get married.”

  Mina hummed pleasantly.

  “Okay, that sounds good. What do girlfriends do anyway?”

  Momo shrugged. She hadn’t really thought this far ahead.

  “I think they like, hold hands and stuff?”

  They both looked down at their intertwined hands, and Mina giggled, a high, childish sound that danced around them both.

  “If that’s all they do then we’ve been girlfriends since we met.”

* * *

 

 

  Momo turns eight and the new school year is about to start. She goes into her class expecting to see the same boring faces but is pleasantly surprised to see a _very_ familiar face staring back at her.

  “Hi.” Mina waves excitedly, bounding forwards to latch onto Momo’s arm. “They decided to mix around the classes again and guess who got moved into class 3B?”

  Momo scratched her head in faux cluelessness.

  “Park Jinwoo?” She grinned goofily at the exaggerated pout on Mina’s face.

  “ _Nooooooooo,_ ” She whined, batting Momo’s arm with her other hand. “It’s me silly.”

  They playfully mess around with each other until the teacher came and twenty or so kids were lined up against the wall waiting to be assigned their seats. Momo barely restrained the excited yelp from escaping when Mrs Kim said they could choose their seats and their partners, and she felt Mina squeeze her hand in equal joy. She was tugged along to a seat somewhere near the front of the classroom (she regrets telling Mina that she had glasses and forgets to wear them constantly) and she thinks that maybe this school year won't be so bad.

  Mina still comes over to her house every day after school (except Fridays because Mina has guitar lessons that day) so now Momo wakes up, eats breakfast with her parents, runs outside the door with her backpack hastily slung on her back and her clothes a little bit messy and wrinkled to see Myoui Mina waiting on her porch with an outstretched hand to walk to school together. The school wasn’t so far away from their homes, so their parents allowed them to walk there and back as long as they followed the exact path home and Mina made sure to check in at home with her parents before going over to Momo’s.

  Momo knew a growing number of definitive things in her life. Her parents loved her - _a lot._ Her father’s eyes watched her like _something_ was slipping away with everyday that passed, and Momo couldn’t do anything to stop that, so she always made sure to hug him a little tighter - to tell him more often that she loved him.  She knew that most of her day revolved in some way around Mina. She woke up - Mina. She went to school - Mina. She went home - _Mina._ It was fun though, and her day revolved just as much around seeing Momo which made them both feel warm and happy, like they’d just had the biggest sip of Mina’s mothers’ hot chocolate.

  (Which was _really_ good, by the way.)

  She also knew, that no matter where she turned or what she did, Mina was always there.

  School got increasingly more fun for Momo. Now she had Mina to spend recess with, and to do school work with, and she _even_ helped her with her homework (Momo was good at many things but maths was _definitely_ not one of them). She got increasingly better scores on tests, though she _did_ get in a little bit more trouble than she used to because playing with Mina was more fun than paying attention to the teacher. Mrs Kim was quite fond of them both though, so she usually let it pass as long as they both kept their hands flat on the table to stop pinching and poking at each other.

  (Their hands would almost naturally slide into each others, and they were too young to notice the concerned glint in Mrs Kim’s eyes.)

  It almost felt weird when they weren’t holding hands. They walked to school side by side, hands swinging in arcs as wide as their little arms would let them, talking about anything and everything nonsensical. They held hands in the cafeteria, Momo’s short stubby fingers interlacing easy with Mina’s soft slender ones to playfully stop the other from eating their food properly. Momo’s hand found Mina’s almost instinctively when she was called upon to answer a question, little fingers tapping a slow rhythm into Mina’s palm and distracting the girl enough from the nervousness that took over her body at the prospect of public speaking.

  Mina’s hand gave hers a comforting squeeze before she tried out for the football team, quelling the nerves sitting at the pit of her stomach at least a little, replaying Mina’s soft reassurances of _it’ll be fine,_ and _you can do it Momoring._

(She gets a spot on the team, a _defender_ she gleefully exclaims, and Mina’s arms wrap themselves around her as tightly as a ten year old could manage.)

  They go into the tree-house that night, laying on their backs swimming in blankets and the stars as they look up at the ceiling. They’ve added more stickers, after Mina got a book on the stars and constellations and declared that the tree-house needed a little more work. Now, Momo’s eyes automatically seek out the familiar constellation for Aries, while Mina excitedly talks about Momo’s future as a professional footballer.

  “This is only the start Momo, you’ll see.” She declares boldly, a stark contrast from the shy girl sat at the front of the classroom. “You’ll have offers to play on the big teams before you know it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ronaldo himself came and signed you up.”

  Momo turned her head from the ceiling, propping herself up to look at Mina with wide, excited eyes.

  “You really think?” She exclaimed, voice filled with wonder.

   “I _know.”_ Mina nodded firmly, dragging Momo’s hand up from the floor to point at the stars. “The stars told me so.”

  Momo laughed.

  “The stars can _talk?”_ She giggled playfully, teasing Mina about the embarrassed blush that rose on her face.

  “I mean, not exactly _talking_ as such silly,” Mina mumbled, turning away from the girl, “Mama says the stars are old and wise and they’ve seen the _entiiiiiiiiiire_ history of the whole world.”

  Momo nodded in thought.

  “I trust your mama. She’s super smart.”

  They both lay there for a while, darkness beginning to overtake the room until the small plastic lamp they’d found in Mina’s attic was the only source of light illuminating them both, and the real stars finally peeked through the velvet veil of the night.

  A sudden thought came to Momo’s mind.

  “Hey,” she said, looking over at the girl who was almost asleep next to her, “the stars told me to marry you y’know.”

  She almost thought that Mina was actually asleep, had it not been for the soft smile that stretched across her face.

  “Mama was right,” she said, facing the ceiling with her eyes still shut, “the stars must be _very_ wise.”


	2. Sellotape for torn up dreams and the whispers inbetween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo has her first kiss under the bleachers in the rain with a beautiful girl, but the entire time all she can think of is how not right it felt. It’s nothing like the books or the movies described because they never said that you spend the entire time thinking about your best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey it's me again

   Momo and Mina turn fourteen and they begin high school, facing new challenges - good and bad. With every year they grow older they find more and more responsibilities thrust upon them, and their schedule and timetables become filled with other, temporary pursuits and requirements. Mina opts to take on advanced biology and mathematics (Momo calls her crazy. She promptly gets swatted with a textbook thicker than her arm.) and continues to take guitar lessons, and in Momo’s humble opinion she was really quite good by now. Mina would argue otherwise, but the way the guitar settled so easily in her lax grip seemed so natural Momo was sure Mina had been doing this since forever.

  She also really liked the lazy afternoons, when she’d say she was too tired to practice, and she’d lay on the grass in her back garden and listen to the soft strumming coming from a nearby window. Mina had a penchant for love songs, so Momo looked up to the sky while imagining how it would feel to have a love like the ones Mina told with her fingertips and an old guitar.

(What an _idiot._ )

  Momo maintains her spot on the football team, and though she has given up on her childish dreams to go professional she loves the sport all the same and intends to play it for as long as she can. Training eats away at her free time though, but she makes friends with a handful of girls in the squad - including star striker Minatozaki Sana. The girl was as talented as she was beautiful, and Momo understood the phrase “heart skipped a beat” as soon as she laid eyes on her.

  Sana is breathtaking , but Momo never saw her in the way that half of the student populace did. She thinks this is why Sana jumps her in the locker room one day, inviting her to a local diner for milkshakes (on her) after practice - and Momo would have been a fool to say no, _really._ She talks to the girl for a while, fighting the urge to reply to the multitude of buzzes coming from the phone in her pocket because _jeez,_ the girl had bought her food -  she wasn’t going to be rude and look at her phone.

  However she gets pinned by knowing eyes, understanding and teasing at the same time.

  “Someone important wants your attention?” She phrased it as a simple question, heavy implacture laced in every word and the mischief in her eyes as she sipped her milkshake confirmed she had caught on. Momo fidgeted on her barstool, feet dangling off the floor.

  “Yeah.” Momo said, playing with the straw in her empty glass. “Someone important.”

  Sana grinned, every mannerism positively feline in nature as she stretched, grin turning into a smirk as she eyed Momo.

  “Well don’t let me stop you.” She took another sip, eyebrows waggling. “You’ve been dying to respond since we sat down like half an hour ago. I won't mind.”

   Momo tried not to race to check her phone, eyes widening comically at the barrage of texts flooding her notifications.

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** why did i take advanced biology

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** put me out of my misery

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** you should have stopped me i trusted you

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** im gonna become a stripper. i dont care.

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** wait i take that back

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** i’m just gonna sit back and play some guitar

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** WldYouBeSoKind.mp4

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** yay or nae? :p

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** momoriiiiiiiiing you finished practice like an hour ago (T⌓T)

  There were more, Momo flicking through them all trying to stifle her laughter and ultimately failing. Sana leaned over curiously, laughing at the sheer amount of spam she had been sent. She let out a low, appreciative whistle.

  “This Mina must really like you.” She mused, waggling those damn eyebrows at Momo again. Her fingers fumbled, botching her reply to Mina.

 **NoHoMo:** holy crap im just at the diner witn safkskcjs

  She avoided the eyes boring holes into her.

  “It’s not like that.” She mumbled.

  Impeccable eyebrows arched in disbelief, piercing gaze not once leaving Momo’s face.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  She looked down at the phone buzzing in her hand, ignoring the growing ache that had settled in her stomach a while back.

 **YouMinaLotToMe:** wow safkskcjs, that’s a cool name never heard that one before

  “Yeah.” She locked her phone and avoided looking at it for the rest of her time out with Sana. She also ignored the pool of emotions that had been gnawing at her insides for -

(A while. It’s been a while.)

* * *

   Sana _very_ quickly integrated herself with both Momo and Mina. It turned out that Sana and Mina took advanced maths together (Momo couldn’t believe that _both_ of her friends loved to torture themselves like that) and Sana quickly learned that Momo and Mina were a steadfast package deal. You could never invite just the one to somewhere, unless the other was too busy to come, lest you get a repeat of the first time Sana took Momo to the diner. Even if you did, they would just spent the entire time waiting til they could talk to the other again. It was a little endearing, in Sana’s mind at least, that neither of them had a single fucking idea about this thing between them.

  She elected to ignore it, and just let nature run its course.

  Besides, Sana enjoyed being the friend that wasn’t involved in some convoluted love story for once. It was refreshing to be the outside perspective, the third wheel as it were - not that it stopped people from trying to get with her. She had an undisputed degree in the fine art of curving people at this point, and she intended to get through the entirety of high school with just Momo and Mina at her side. She could trust them, they liked her for _her,_ as wild as that sounds.

  Sana and Momo had football practice after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. Every Monday and Wednesday, like clockwork when they finished at 5:30pm, Momo would make her way to the bleachers to a girl with either her guitar or thick text book in hand. Momo would help her carry her stuff, despite the familiar protests that erupted every time, and a hand would slide out to hold the others with a final rebuttal of “How can you carry this if you don’t have a hand to spare?” Mina would stamp her feet in faux protest before disguising her blush in the folds of the thick football hoodie with **HIRAI** emblazoned across the back she had at some point commandeered from Momo’s wardrobe. Sometimes Sana would be invited to go with them, to hang at the arcade or grab milkshakes from Moe’s or just sit in the park and listen to Mina strum a simple tune while they pointed at the clouds in the sky.

  It was nice, and even when she couldn’t go with the girls she was content enough to watch an age old story play out before her eyes, stifling the roll of her eyes everytime that adorable blush rose on Mina’s face. Honestly, how could they _not_ know?

  It was nice, but Sana saw the way people’s eyes tracked the connected hands hanging between the two girls, or how that boy from class 2a’s lips sneer every time he catches sight of them together. It was a dangerous game the two were playing, and she wasn’t even sure they were aware they were active participants.

  It wasn’t so nice when everything erupted one day, Momo being shoved harshly to the floor by a firm shoulder. Everything in her grip clattered noisily across the corridor, and the hallway went silent as all eyes trained on the three bodies in the centre. Mina bent down immediately, pulling Momo to her feet before rough hands pushed her shoulders against the lockers, metal clanging noisily as she fell with a cry. The guy, the same one who looked at the two with a permanent sneer on his face, leered over them aggressively, poison barbs dripping from his lips with every word he spat at the two. His words were harsh and cruel, using slurs and insults they’d never even heard before at the age of fifteen, and Sana arrived just in time to see the boy surge forward, hand reaching to grab at Momo’s face.

  Sana reacted before she thought, seeing her friends cowering on the floor and the tears forming in Momo’s eyes (though she wasn’t sure if they were from anger or fear) and the trembling grip Mina had maintained with Momo’s hand the entire time. The schools star striker barrelled straight into the boy, sending him sprawling against the opposite row of lockers in surprise. She heard the gasps of shock from the crowd, but she didn’t care because rage and fear were crawling up her throat with every passing second and she just reacted instinctively. She pushed him again, and suddenly they were both on the floor with Sana holding the boy down and spitting words just as toxic and acidic as his back at him.

  “If you ever, _ever_ go anywhere near my friends again I will fucking end you, do you fucking hear me?” She seethed, teeth gritted as both her fists formed a choking grip at his collar. His head nodded frantically in fright, and she let him go, head smacking to the floor at the sudden action and she surveyed the crowd.

  “What the _fuck_ are you all looking at?”

  The crowd murmured and dispersed, throwing fanciful glances (mostly of fear) back at the lone figure watching them leave. Adrenaline shook Sana’s body, as well as the inevitable drop of fear and anger at doing what she did, and she turned to see Momo and Mina both standing, hands clasped tightly like they would break if they weren’t holding the other. They both stepped forward, arms flinging around Sana as they cried into her neck letting out the overwhelming shock at the sudden confrontation, and Sana’s arms locked around them both.

  If this was something she had to do to protect them, she’d do it as many times as she’d have to.

* * *

   They all transfer to another high school. The stares and whispers were rage inducing at best, and the increasing looks of disgust leveled at the three friends every time they stepped out of the classroom were too much. They avoid the topic when their parents ask for the reasons, though the looks on their faces must do something because their parents agree with minimal fuss and hassle.

  Mina and Momo learn to not be as close with each other. It hurts to watch, Sana thinks, at the way Momo’s hand instinctively reaches out to link with Mina’s but then snaps back to her side, shoving itself deep in the recesses of her pockets where it can avoid temptation.

  (Sana still sees the twitch of her arm whenever Mina brushes too close.)

  It hurts, but they all agree that it's for the best because they definitely do _not_ want a repeat of their last high school. The people at this high school seem nicer though, and they view the three new girls ( _that_ had caused at least a month's worth of gossip and speculation) with much kinder eyes filled with curiosity rather than animosity. It’s a nice change, and the three girls breathe easy for the first time in months.

  Sana and Momo sign up for the football team, and it doesn’t take a lot of time before they reclaim their prime positions and are training and playing regularly for the school again. They all gain more friends, casual friends who they say hi to and who invite them out for milkshakes and meet ups and parties. Mina introduces another girl to their group, a talented singer from her music class called Park Jihyo who Sana can’t take her eyes off of.

  (Mina and Momo notice this, but elect not to say anything as they take innocent sips from their shakes.)

  She’s nice, and sweet, and she also doesn’t stare whenever Mina and Momo get a bit too relaxed and forget where they are, fingers interlacing naturally under the table as they huddle a little closer than _just_ friends. Sana doesn’t want to, but she’s ready to kick some ass when Jihyo grabs her attention to flick her head at the pair, but Jihyo’s eyes are soft and crinkled, mouthing a little ‘ _aww’_ at the sight before getting up to buy them all more milkshakes. Sana deflates like a balloon and the relief that courses through her body is almost overwhelming. Her eyes trail Jihyo to the counter and she doesn’t notice the little snicker the two girls next to her share as they watch her with teasing eyes.

  With new friends means new problems, and they all meet one in the form of Park Sooyoung’s crush on Momo.

  She’s nice, if a little sarcastic and snarky, but she’s on the football team with Sana and Momo and Sana starts to realise two hours into their fourth outing as a team that Sooyoung is a _little_ bit closer to Momo than just a friend would be. The girl leans in, high tinkling laughter skating around the room as her fingers trail Momo’s arm enticingly and all Sana can do is sit back and watch the scene unfold with a blaring repetition of Jihyo’s ‘ _oh no_ ’ in the soft, almost comical way she sighs whenever Sana and Momo do something wrong in the back of her mind.

  She talks to Jihyo about it, and the girls eyes widen like something out of a cartoon at the information before she says “ _wait_ , Mina and Momo _aren’t_ already together?”. Sana chokes on her fries as she laughs, because this entire time Jihyo had just assumed the two were already an item after only knowing them for a few months - whereas Mina and Momo have known each other since - she thinks they said they were seven? Probably - and they still haven’t spoken or done anything about their glaringly obvious attraction.

  Okay, _maybe_ it was a little tragic. Still kind of funny though.

  She tries not to get involved in the situation, because it wasn’t really her place to say or do anything, but Momo is sweet and oblivious (source: her eight year crush on Mina) and does nothing to brush off Sooyoung’s advances whenever they all go out.

* * *

   Momo has her first kiss at the age of sixteen. It’s under the bleachers, hours after their training session ended and she responds to a text from Sooyoung asking “hey, can we meet up?” and she finds them both huddled under the seats, shivering in their varsity jackets because it was already November.

  (Momo had to tell her coach that she had ‘lost’ her first jacket because it’s nestled comfortably in Mina’s wardrobe, who claimed ignorance and innocence whenever Momo asked about it. She had to do five extra laps that day.)

  Sooyoung is close and she smells really nice, Momo thinks that she has to ask her what perfume she uses because she really likes it, when unfamiliar hands clench the lapel of her jacket and pull her in. Her lips are soft and full, and Momo isn’t entirely sure what to do so her hands fist uselessly at her side and she lets the kiss play out because her mind is filled with giant question marks and confusion. Sooyoung pulls away first, with a sad knowing smile before she bids Momo good night and leaves. Momo watches her go with an odd sense of dread building in her stomach.

  Momo has her first kiss under the bleachers in the rain with a beautiful girl, but the entire time all she can think of is how _not_ right it felt. It’s nothing like the books or the movies described because they never said that you spend the entire time thinking about your best friend.

  Momo gets home and finds herself breaking into her dads alcohol cabinet, because the awful feeling in her stomach has yet to subside and she knows that he always has a small glass of something dark to calm down after a particularly stressful day. The bottles clank noisily in the early morning quiet of her still home, and she finds something that looks vaguely like it would help and she pours a glass. Or two. Maybe three.

  The liquor burns going down her throat, and Momo doesn’t  understand how her dad does this so often because this is _disgusting_. She’s desperate though, and the hardening dread in her stomach is replaced with something heavier and warmer and she reaches out for her phone to text Mina because she’s never felt like this before.

 **NoHoMo:** Miiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnaaaaarrrrriiiiiiiiiii

 **NoHoMo:** hesy u know tmy dads liqeru cabinet? Tghis stuf f suCSKCK

 **NoHoMo:** i dont wknow why anybodsy whould ever asdrin k thsi it’s sdisgusting!!!11!

 **NoHoMo:** Miiiiuiiiinnnnnnbnnnaaagaaaasdaaaa

  Her phone begins to ring in her hand and she looks blearily at Mina’s contact photo staring back at her (it’s a picture she quickly took of Mina snorting into her milkshake at a dumb joke she made, a little blurry but the wide smile stretching across Mina’s face made her feel automatically better every time she saw it), smiling goofily before swiping on the little green button to connect the call. She breathed heavily into the receiver, leaning back in her chair.

  “Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy Minariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii”

  There was silence on the other end of the receiver before she heard the tell tale rustling of Mina’s sheets.

  “Momo, it’s almost 3am.” Her voice was croaky with disuse.

  Momo squinted at the blurry numbers at the top of her screen reading 02:47 back at her.

  Ah _shit_.

  “Oops.” She sniffled softly. “I’m sorry Minari.”

  She heard Mina sigh into the receiver and more movement on her end.

  “Is something wrong?” Mina asked, voice soft and concerned like Momo hadn’t just woken her up so late on a school night. Momo felt something warm and familiar wrap around her chest. She sniffled again, and Mina’s voice grew concerned.

  “Momo? Are you okay?” Alarm had made its way into Mina’s voice now, and Momo choked back a sob because of _course_ Mina was so good and concerned and not even a little bit mad at this inconvenience. The noise on the other end of the call had died down, and Momo didn’t blame Mina even a little bit if she’d finally decided to hang up before she heard rustling. Mina’s voice sounded like she’d ran, and she exhaled heavily.

  “Momo open the door. I’m outside.”

  She dragged heavy limbs to the door, urging her drunk body to comply and be at least a _little_ bit quiet because her parents would kill her if they knew she was awake at this time, let alone drunk and crying on the liquor in her father’s cabinet. The door swings wide open and she almost cries at the sight of Mina in her fuzzy penguin pyjamas and a suspiciously familiar varsity jacket thrown on over the top, shivering in her little winter boots and hastily thrown on hat and scarf. She engulfs her in a hug and Momo melts into her frame, almost letting out a sob before remembering she needed to be quiet.

  “Not here,” she mumbles into her jacket, and she pulls away to look up at the soft, understanding smile adorning Mina’s face.

  “I think I know just the place.”

  She’s confused, letting Mina drag her around the back of her house because _really_ she’d let Mina drag her anywhere, until she sees a rickety old ladder climbing up the side of the tree in her back garden. Overwhelming excitement replaces the tears because it’s been _years_ since her and Mina went up there, and she’s jumping forwards to scramble up the carefully crafted steps. Mina goes up after her, comforting hand steadying each wobbly step Momo took and she clumsily pulls her in after her, tugging her hard enough to send them both sprawling in the blankets that still lived up there. They smelled old and disused, but Momo didn’t mind because she was looking up at Mina’s face and the stars.

  “Momo, what’s wrong?” Mina cooed, tucking the stray locks of hair that stuck to Momo’s face to the side.

  She stared up, half-lidded eyes tracing the constellation of freckles mapped around Mina’s face and connected them with a shaky finger, not noticing the hitch of Mina’s breath with every tap on her skin.

  “Cassiopeia,” Momo murmured, brain hazy from the warm liquid settling in her belly and the warm cloud filling up her chest.

  “What?” Mina questioned, voice barely a whisper.

  “The constellation. Cassiopeia - it’s tattooed on your skin.”

  Mina looked at her with eyes that Momo couldn’t decipher, something old and ever present that she’d only just noticed after all these years. Mina blinked and Momo was looking into an inky canvas of stars.

  “You didn’t answer my question, Momoring.” Soft fingers trailed down her jaw, Mina pulled away from her slightly. “What’s wrong?”

  The warm cloud in her chest dispersed and the heavy feeling in her stomach she’d been trying so hard to cover up came back. She didn’t deserve to cry, but she felt the tell tale prick of tears welling in her eyes and suddenly Mina was close, wiping away each tear before it formed.

  “A girl kissed me today.” She blurted out, and Mina’s thumbs stilled on her cheeks for a dangerous moment before they resumed.

  “How was that?” Mina asked, voice neutral and not at all upset like Momo thought it would be for some stupid reason.

  “Wrong.” Momo admitted, eye catching on the glint of the necklace poking out under Mina’s shirt. She’d gotten it for her years ago, a dumb cheap gift from the arcade. Something dull thudded against her ribs. “It felt _wrong_.”

  Mina hummed and Momo nestled into her, wrapping her arms loosely around the girl above her. She breathed against her neck, feeling her jolt with every warm breath that skated along winter chilled skin. She fumbled for a blanket, throwing it over the two of them haphazardly.

  “Why’s that?” Mina murmured, fighting back a yawn as they burrowed into the warmth of each other and musty old blankets.

  Momo thought about it, reaching desperately for a sensible thought swimming around in her addled mind, but the loudest answer was ‘ _it wasn’t you_.’

  “I don’t know.” She lied, letting sleep overtake her mind to finally silence the shouting in her head. She thinks she feels something soft press to her cheeks before she slips away, and she dreams of childish laughter echoing around her as chubby little fingers point up at the stars.

  She woke up in the morning to find herself wrapped in Mina’s arms in her tree-house, confusion running through her veins as she sat up in the cold winter air. The sun had long ago risen in the sky and she winced internally at the realisation school would have started a few hours ago, turning to look at the girl grasping at the empty blankets for the now missing source of warmth. She thinks she sees dried tear tracks on Mina’s cheeks, but she turns and they’re gone - so she blames it on the pounding in her head and the way the sunlight strikes her face through the crooked window.

(It’s beautiful, and the sunlight is definitely the reason why Momo can’t stop staring.)

* * *

   Mina wakes up soon after, automatic smile breaking out on her face when she catches Momo already looking at her. She mutters a soft ‘good morning Momoring’ before stretching lazily, catlike in every movement as her back cracked in little pops. Momo felt a little guilty, for she was the reason Mina slept in an old, wooden tree-house and not the comfort of her own bed, but Mina simply smiled at her and took her by the hand.

   They decided it was too late to go into school that day, and spent the day warming up on Momo’s couch watching reruns of avatar and drinking hot chocolate. They respond to the barrage of concerned messages from their friends, but Momo can’t find it in herself to respond to one in particular. She lets her head fall onto Mina’s shoulder when the next episode starts and wraps her arms around her a little tighter, placing her phone down on the table so she wouldn’t have to see it.

 **MyLife’sJoy:** you should tell her soon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so like...there's one more chapter to go, and it's college aged them, but it's probably as long as both of these chapters combined lol  
> again, tell me if u liked it or leave criticism, i'm a little apprehensive about the way i've written some of this but heyho


	3. Strawberry stardust imprinted on your fingertips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here she is...the final chapter...

   They graduate. It’s a mess, and all of their parents are there and Jihyo is looking at them all with more pride than they could even imagine for a group of losers who scraped by. Sana cries because she earns a full ride football scholarship to the nearby university - and this means they can all actually go together. Mina, Momo and Jihyo had already locked in their courses, but Sana had been unsure up until the last moment whether her family’s financial situation would allow for her to attend.

  Mina looks at Sana standing in the crowd in front of her parents, her mother’s hands cupping her face while tears overflow from both of them, and she realises there and then that _this_ is what made everything worthwhile. Sana’s smile is blindingly beautiful and Mina feels her heart crumple at the knowledge that she would do almost anything to see the girl truly happy.

  Momo had said one time that Sana was like the sun. She’s bright, and the light she casts upon them all was warm and soothing and left them feeling blissful and content. She’s so bright it almost hurts sometimes, but you couldn’t help but stare even if you knew it would ache. Even the sun needs to rest though, and Momo described this as the night time, when the moon came out to cast a softer, subdued light and millions of stars twinkled in the place of the sun.

(If Sana was the sun, then Jihyo was definitely the moon.)

(Mina ignored the fact that her and Momo were the stars.)

  They all hold their diplomas in hand as they walk into the diner, sitting at their designated table as they gleefully sipped on thick, chilled shakes and discussed their next steps. Whatever it was, they were sure as long as they had each other they could take on anything that came their way. Nobody points out the way Jihyo’s pinky naturally linked together with Sana’s at some point, or the fact that Momo’s stool had somehow moved a little bit closer to Mina’s than it was before. They’re all laughing and smiling with beatific euphoria hanging on their every word, and they’re not entirely sure what the shared feeling of warmth in their stomachs is, but Jihyo mentions it’s something akin to home and three other heads nod in blissful agreement.

* * *

 

  September rolls around and begins to take the warmth of summer with it. They all move in together, a small four bedroom unit within walking distance of the campus because none of them really wanted to share a cramped, dingy dormitory with a stranger who may or may not resent their existence. Things go smoothly, or as smooth as they can be for four young adults living away from home for the first time. Jihyo is unsurprisingly self-sufficient, and makes it her life mission to ensure the girls _don’t_ just survive on a diet of instant noodles and freebies from the cafeteria (much to Momo’s delight). They learn to juggle their workload with basically just surviving and not alienating themselves from the rest of the student population - the latter being something Mina didn’t really see as a _bad_ thing, per say, just a little… unorthodox.

(Jihyo and Sana physically drag her to a university produced play one night after complaining she hadn’t left her room in a whole week. She finds a friend in lead actress Im Nayeon and begrudgingly agrees that maybe going out once in awhile isn’t necessarily a _bad_ thing.)

  Sana had the varsity football team to keep up with now, and much of her free time is eaten away. She whines at Momo to try out too, telling the girl that she is _more_ than good enough and Momo finds herself running a trial at 5am on a Sunday morning all because she can’t say no to Minatozaki Sana.

(She gets accepted almost immediately, and she ignores the smug smile on Sana’s face at the announcement. She focuses on the childlike excitement brewing in her chest instead.)

  The first year passes by in an instant. They don’t win the championship. In fact they only make it to the quarter finals. Momo finds it easier to shrug off the defeat, this wasn’t her dream anymore (even if it hurt, just a little bit) and she crashes on the couch with a tired smile and a “we tried.” Sana sits on the barstool at the kitchen counter the whole night, shooting a quick, feeble smile when any of the other girls tried to pry or inquire about her state of mind.

  This _was_ still her dream, and winning was pretty much everything she had at this point. Someone sets a steaming mug of hot chocolate down in front of her (the good kind, the one they saved for special occasions) and took a seat opposite her, not saying a word. She smiled, because of _course_ she wasn’t going to let her brood alone.

  Maybe winning wasn’t everything anymore, especially when defeat tasted like warm chocolate and came in the form of kind eyes.

  Second year starts and already they can tell this season is going to be different. They get new teammates; a freshman transfer from Taiwan with the _meanest_ kick Momo has seen in her whole life, and this overexcitable adorable piece of fluff who stood between the goalposts like she god damn belonged there.

  Sana had to admit she did, especially after Kim Dahyun blocks 8/10 of her shots and doesn’t even look remotely out of breath in the changing rooms after a full practice. She still looks like she’s fresh and ready for another full game and Sana spies her eagerly trying to convince the transfer, Tzuyu she thinks, to come back onto the field to play again.

  (Her and Momo walk past half an hour later to see long legs power drive the ball from halfway down the field, smashing it straight towards the goal before a tiny body hurled itself in its path. Maybe this season _would_ be different.)

  Second year is different, but not in a bad way. They actually have to try this year, not like they _didn’t_ try last year but they uh,  definitely didn’t exactly give it their all. Besides, Mina placed a limit on their netflix usage this year - they were only a few months into the semester and Momo’s grades have curved up substantially more than she expected. She tries to ignore the smug smirk on her face when she tells her, and the way something pathetic does a little flip flop in her stomach when said smirk turns into a full blown gummy grin.

  Im Nayeon, who by extension had mustled her way into their little group of friends after befriending Mina (not that they minded, she was _wonderful_ to get drunk with) invited them all to a party. Nothing big, she said, with a practiced nonchalance that had Jihyo thinking _maaaaybe_ it was a little bigger than she implied. They all agreed eagerly, because it had been awhile since they let off steam and they were all actually ahead on their course material for once, and decided to go all out for this.

  Sana, Momo decided, could positively murder someone when she decided to dress up. She spared a glance for Jihyo, who’s eyes had yet to peel themselves away from the sinfully short little one piece dress that rode up Sana’s wonderfully toned thighs with every step. They hadn’t even left their home yet, and Jihyo already looked like she might go into cardiac arrest. Mina walks into the room, putting in an earring before she stopped in place, letting out a low whistle.

  “Jesus Christ Tozaki,” she appraised, eyes sweeping appreciatively along the length of Sana’s body, “someone’s going to have a heart attack if you walk into the place like that.”

  Momo snorted, accidentally drawing attention to herself because Jihyo damn near was ready to collapse there and then. She covered it up suspiciously with a cough, and Mina’s eyes narrowed at her in jest but Sana’s gleamed dangerously.

  “You should try it some time Myoui. I have a dress just like this that would look perfect on you.”

  Momo’s cough turned into choking, because the thought of Mina in something like that had her heart racing just as fast as Jihyo’s (who at this point had sat down, half-drunk glass of _something_ strong in one hand). Momo shuffled over to Jihyo, hand already outstretched to pour herself a glass of poison. Maybe she should rethink this night out.

  “I think I’ll pass on having sequins so close to my crotch, thanks though.” Mina smirked, finally clasping her earring in place. She looked good anyway, Momo thought. She was only wearing a loosely tucked in t-shirt and jeans, but Momo was pretty certain she could outclass any supermodel going in a plastic bag if she wanted to.

(Maybe she was a little biased.)

  “You can’t just go in _thaaaat_.” Sana whined, pout protruding from glossed up lips and leaning forwards to expose a dangerous amount of cleavage. Momo felt the girl next to her completely still, and she put her fingers to her neck to check for a pulse.

  “You _always_ wear that.” Sana said, arms crossing stubbornly.

  “ _Aaaand_ I always look good in this.” Mina retorted, walking out of the room to grab her shoes. “Don’t mess with what you know, Tozaki.” She bid farewell with a wink and a wave of her hands.

  “Oh what I know?” Sana snorted. That mischievous glint in her eyes from earlier came back with vengeance. “I know quite a few things Myoui, care to elabor-“

  Mina shot back into the room, a blur of movement and both she and Sana were tugged out the door before Momo could blink. Momo felt Jihyo’s pulse rate drop for the first time since this conversation started and though she was curious, it was ultimately for the best that they left. She was quite fond of Jihyo, and an untimely death caused by Sana’s thighs would have to wait.

* * *

   They arrive to the party, and predictably it’s a _lot_ bigger than Nayeon implied. Heavy bass music seeps into every wall of the house, saturating every room and drowning out the shouts of the drunk students inside. Jihyo absently wonders how the neighbours haven’t called the cops yet, but then again this was Im Nayeon they were talking about - girl could talk her way out of just about anything if she tried. The four girls navigate their way inside, sliding past drunk, sweaty bodies already halfway through their night.

  Momo was very grateful for the pre drinks, because she doesn’t think she could do this sober. They gain attention as soon as they walk through the door, partly because Miss Minatozaki was at the helm of their little quartet and she turned heads without even trying - and partly because two of the star players of the football team just walked in with the president of the mathematical society and the university sweetheart, Park Jihyo.

  A lot of people knew their names. It was a little intimidating, especially at the increased interest because ¾ of them hardly ever attended big, messy functions like this. Such was the power of Im Nayeon, Momo supposes.

  They find the girl of the night dancing on the staircase, clinging a little too close to be friendly to Yoo Jeongyeon. The university band member notices them before Nayeon does, sending them an easy, natural smile before leaning down to whisper something in the party girls’ ear. Nayeon whirled around, eyes blown wide open with what Mina hoped was only excitement and not something else.

  “You guys made it!” She bellowed, somehow projecting her voice above the music. Sana leans into her, meeting the girl with a crushing hug.

  “Of course we would Nayeon, you’d never forgive us if we didn’t.” Sana rolled her eyes with her head tucked into the other girls shoulder, meeting Jeongyeon’s steady gaze behind her with a knowing smile. She squinted as Jeongyeon tried to mouth some words to her, keeping a hold of the excitable girl trying to break out of her prolonged embrace.

  “ _She’s fucked.”_

   _Oh._ Well then.

  Sana let go of the girl and stepped back, holding her a little further away in her arms and took the time to examine her. Nayeon was pretty, incredibly so, and she had big, wide eyes that most of the student populace would kill for - but they’re not usually _this_ dilated. Nayeon turned to throw herself at the other girls, almost choking Mina in her crushing embrace and Sana leaned forwards into Jeongyeon.

  “How bad?” She shouted.

  Jeongyeon shrugged.

  “It wasn’t much. I’ve been keeping an eye on her, I can handle it don’t worry.”

  Sana eyed the girl who had both of Momo’s hands in her own, making the pair of them jump up and down in excitement as she recited her most recent performance word for word into Momo’s clueless ears.

  “Such a doting girlfriend you are Jeongie.” Sana winked, pulling away from the girl just after seeing the blush rise on her face. _Maybe_ she got a kick out of teasing her group of idiots. She returned to her friends, wrapping her fingers around a highly amused Jihyo’s arm to begin tugging her into the crowd.

  “I want to dance.” She shouted, and Jihyo’s eyes twinkled in response. Her hand slid down to intertwine with Jihyo’s own, because getting seperated in a party like this was basically asking for trouble, and began to expertly weave them both through the crowd into the living room. She kept Jihyo close, and she turns around to bid her friends farewell to see Jeongyeon sporting an identical smirk to her own earlier.

  “Such a doting girlfriend you are Tozaki.” She cooed above the music, and Sana was glad the light in this place was sketchy at best so nobody could see the tinge of pink surface on her cheeks.

* * *

 

  Everything was in full swing now. The music had grown impossibly louder ( _seriously,_ Jihyo thought, _where the fuck were the cops)_ and they’d all indulged in a little bit more alcohol than they should have. Sana danced like her life depended on it, and both Mina and Momo spared a thought for their tiny gay friend who miraculously hadn’t short circuited at having the girl dancing all over her all night. And they literally meant on her, because the last time Momo looked over Sana had wrapped herself around Jihyo and was grinding them both to the pulsating beat of some slow R &B song she vaguely recognised. She snapped a picture for blackmail purposes and turned back to the group of girls she was sat with on the sofa.

  She kept an eye on Mina, who sat in the corner tucked as far away from the rambunctious crowd as she possibly could with one of the members of Jeongyeon’s band, Chaeyoung. The girl was small and funny and had a tongue sharper than Nayeon’s which was a hell of a surprise to them all, and she’s pretty sure she saw the exact moment Tzuyu fell in love with her when Nayeon sat down in her seat with a stunned expression and the tiny firecracker kicked back with a beer in her hand and a tiny smirk playing on her lips.

(She was kind of badass, but Momo also knew about the surplus collection of stuffed toys she had back on her bed, so it made her more of a cuddly lion than an actual lion.)

  She trusted Chaeyoung enough to keep Mina safe anyway, and she excused herself from the girls she was sat with to go grab herself another drink. She gave obligatory nods to everyone as she passed, making her way into the kitchen.

  It was quite impressive she supposed, she expected nothing less of a party thrown by Nayeon, but the sheer amount of alcohol still left over in the fridge and on the sides still surprised her. She rummaged through the shelves looking for something a little fruity (she wasn’t a fan of the bitter taste of beer) when an unfamiliar arm loomed over her head, reaching through the cans of cheap beer to pluck a single bottle with a strawberry label on it that she had missed originally. She stiffened as the body pressed a little closer to her than was comfortable.

  “Here.” A deep voice rumbled, and Momo turned around to almost smack into the guys chest. He dangled the bottle in front of her with a teasing smirk, but the flip flop in her stomach felt a lot different to what she was used to.

  “Thanks.” She smiled, because being polite was how Sana had coached her to get through awkward situations like this, but he grinned back at her like he had achieved something and her stomach plummeted.

   _Rule number one,_ Sana had said when they first started college, young and naive and afraid of going out there, _always_ _always_ _take a friend with you._

She’d berate herself later, but right now she had to find a way to get herself away from this guy looming over her and back towards someone she knew.

  “You’re Momo, right?” She nodded uncaringly, recalling that she thinks she saw Dahyun talking to a group of her friends in the next room over. He shifts his weight to his other leg, pushing himself a little closer. Momo pushes herself further back into the fridge.

  “How come I don’t see you out much?”

  “I’m… not a big fan of parties like this.”

  He tsked, taking another swig from his can. The smell of cheap booze was overwhelmingly stuck in Momo’s nose and she wasn’t sure if it was emanating from the guy or if it came from the stagnating pool of _something_ on the counter.

  “That’s a real shame, a girl like you could really liven up the place, y’know?”

  He probably thought he was being charming, and judging from the look on his face he _definitely_ assumed as much but the primary emotion Momo felt was this inexplicable fear crawling up her throat.

  “T-thank you” she stammered out, hand reaching out to push at his chest, “but my friends are waiting for me.”

  A rough, calloused hand came up to cover the one on his chest. Momo fought the urge to throw up.

  “Naw don’t say that, the party’s only just starte-“

  A smaller, softer body forced itself between the two of them, giving Momo room to breathe and finally freeing her from the confines of his arms. She stumbled back at the force of this persons sudden appearance.

  “Excuse me,” an achingly familiar voice said, laced with barely contained anger, “but we’ll both be going now.”

  Momo leaned forward instinctively, relief coursing through her limbs as her arms wrapped around the waist of the girl in front of her. She peered over her shoulder, watching the guys eyebrows furrow in confusion.

  “What, why?” he snorted, leaning back over them both again. The body in front of her stiffened.

  “Because I need to take my girlfriend home right now.”

  Momo sucked in a sharp gasp of breath, and she’s sure Mina felt it from the reassuring thumb that ran along the back of her hand.

  Mina’s eyes were dark and furious, in a way Momo had never seen from the demure girl before, and at the forefront was this burning, possessive anger flickering away.

  It was kind of hot, but she thought that wasn’t the most appropriate thing to say right now.

  The unnamed stranger reeled back, eyes steeling in a way the two were a little too used to but before he could open his mouth, another even smaller body separated the two from him. Chaeyoung shoved him back, forcing him against the countertop and leaning over him as much as her tiny frame would allow.

  “You might wanna get the fuck outta here asstwat” she spoke through gritted teeth, punctuating her words with another harsh shove to his chest, “and learn to take a fuckin’ hint.”

  He glances around the room, taking in his options (and noticing Tzuyu, who leaned innocuously against the door. Momo saw how readily her fists were clenched, and made a mental note to always keep Tzuyu with her when they go out) and he grunted, shuffling out the same door Tzuyu was standing in. She shoulder checks him on the way out for good measure, making him stumble over the people crowded in the hallway. It makes Momo feel a little better, but she wagers a bet that the familiar body still stood protectively in front of her has more to do with it.

  Momo still hasn’t let go of Mina, it’s been a few minutes and Tzuyu and Chaeyoung both dipped back into the party a while back to make sure the rest of their friends were doing okay. Mina feels Momo shudder against her back, feels the pressure of her head coming forward to rest on her shoulder and feels the girl trying to stop the sob threatening to escape.

  She turns around, swallowing the fear that had coated her tongue earlier, and wrapped her own arms around a narrow waist. Her forehead came forward until it knocked against Momo’s, so close their breath was intermingling. She closed her eyes, and exhaled heavily.

  Breathe in. Breathe out.

  “I shouldn’t have let you go alone.” She murmured, close enough that Momo could hear her despite the throbbing beat of some old school dance track that vibrated the walls. Momo sniffled, smiling gently while she shook her head, the action moving Mina’s too.

  “I shouldn’t have gone alone.” She whispered back, and she’s not sure why this stolen moment in the messy kitchen of Nayeon’s house feels so precious, but in this moment there’s just the two of them.

  Nobody else.

  “I should have gotten here sooner,” Mina continues, Momo feeling the scrunch of her forehead as she frowned disappointedly at herself, “I should have-“

  “That’s a lot of ‘shoulds’.” Momo cut her off with a small laugh.

  There’s a moment of silence, a comfortable pause and all Momo can hear is the sound of Mina’s breath even though the music is deafening. Mina shifts against her.

  “There’s a lot of things I should have done.” Mina confesses, pressing her face into Momo’s neck. Momo can feel the flutter of her eyelashes with every blink. The arms around her waist have a fistful of her shirt in their grasp, like she’s desperate not to let her go.

  “I think,” Momo begins, bringing a hand up to stroke through Mina’s hair, “that we should go home.”

(Home is what you make it, and theirs was built on homegrown hearts and paper stars years ago.)

* * *

   They left the party, hands clasped in a grip so tight Mina abstractly fears she might never play her guitar easily again. They find Sana first, leaning in to inform her they’re going because they don’t want their friends to worry, and they spy Jihyo wobbling over with a suspicious hand covering her neck like there was _something_ she didn’t want them to see. Momo looks at Sana and she waggles her eyebrows in an achingly familiar way and she thinks of strawberry milkshakes and warm neon lights. They wave goodbye, and Momo knows exactly where she wants to go. They step out into the night, taking deep, refreshing gulps of air as the sound of the party fades out behind them.

  “Hey, do you wanna go to Moe’s?”

  Mina’s head is warm on her shoulder in response and it's actually Mina who tugs them there. Two pairs of feet shuffle sheepishly through the door, because the parlour closes in less than half an hour, but the owner looks at them both fondly with a roll of his eyes and gets behind the counter to prepare their usual order. They both slide into a booth with their hands wrapped around their shakes tightly and sit opposite each other, Momo’s foot hooking naturally around Mina’s ankle as a leg slides on the inside of her own. Mina must have left her stomach somewhere outside on the street because everything feels weird and there’s _something_ simmering in there and she’s not entirely sure if she can actually drink her milkshake. Momo has no such qualms, and takes long, thick, slurps from her straw enthusiastically.

  “You know, what I said earlier, about the things I should have done,” Mina begins, eyes trained on the table in front of her and the fingers that tugged restlessly at each other. Momo hums and she continues.

  “I...You know...we both…” The butterflies in her stomach made it difficult to speak, stumbling over the words she couldn’t quite bring herself to say. “I should-”

  “You should be my girlfriend.” Momo remarked casually, as if she was announcing the weather or telling her what she had eaten for breakfast.

  Not as if she’d just become the catalyst for the slipping grip Mina had on the cage of butterflies she’d learned to lock away years before she had realised what they meant.

  Momo took an infuriatingly relaxed sip of her strawberry milkshake, leaning forwards in her seat to anticipate a response, eyes steadfastly fixed on the girl in front of her.

  The words in Mina’s throat were drowned out by the cacophony of tattered wings beating in her lungs, choking on unformed syllables and the crashing force of years of pent up feelings spilling over all at once. Her hands fell loosely to her side, jolting at the reminder of their proximity as her fingers skimmed Momo’s thigh on the outside of her own. She knew if she looked up she’d see a simple, earnest expression that demanded nothing and offered everything - so she opted to stare down at her bare thighs instead, hoping to at least somewhat mask the strip of crimson that rode high on her cheeks.

  The table shifted as Momo scooted closer on the other side, practically locking their legs between each others. Familiar fingers tugged at her own, loosely pulling them to meet midway under the table before interlacing naturally. She almost would have been the the picturesque ode of nonchalance - had it not been for the erratic rhythm of Momo’s fingertips against her milkshake.

  “Not like when we were kids, you know,” She mumbled around the tip of her straw. Mina could see the way it had been nibbled anxiously. “Although I think kid me had the right idea.” Nostalgic eyes darted nervously around the table, though they mostly settled on Mina’s face.

  Mina swallowed down the fluttering in her chest and looked up, and it felt like they’d gone back thirteen years to the smell of rain soaked wood and searching for the stars on the roof of Momo’s tree-house.

  “Had the right idea about what?” Mina’s thumb subconsciously began rubbing circles on the back of Momo’s hand and the sound of frantic tapping on glass ceased.

  “You. And me.” Momo smiled, and Mina smiled too. “I should have kept calling you my girlfriend. It’s not like there was ever a time when it wasn’t you for me.” She exhaled heavily, serene smile settling on her face.

  “It’s always been you.”

  She took another thick slurp of her milkshake.

  “This is really good, you know.”

  Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Only Hirai Momo could confess a love that lasted over half their lifetime and then comment on a milkshake, like she hadn’t just thrown all her cards onto the table and exposed her hand for Mina to see. It was almost believable, but the hand in her own trembled with every shaky breath around a thoroughly gnawed straw and there was a shimmering wetness beginning to pool in her eyes.

  Mina’s fingers gripped Momo’s a little tighter and the shaking stopped.

  “Maybe we were smarter as kids.” Her voice sounded a lot more stable than she felt, but the flicker of Momo’s eyes darting up to meet her own gave her the stable foundation she needed to find her words.

  Fingers broke apart as Mina stood up, leaning forwards into Momo. She reached up, hands tracing the curvature of familiar cheekbones, thumbs sweeping affectionately under eyes threatening to spill over. Everything about Momo was straightforward, and simple, and the way she pushed instinctively into Mina’s palms said more than she would ( _could)_ ever say.

  Momo’s hands had come up from under the table to cover Mina’s, fingers tremoring as they traced the smooth ridges Mina’s veins trailed on the backs of her hands. She grabbed ahold of one of them, pushing her fingers between Momo’s like they had done countless times before. They settled on the table - Momo held her breath.

  Mina leaned forward, ducking her head to take a lengthy sip from Momo’s straw. She sat back and tried not to laugh at the confusement on the other girls’ face.

  “You were right,” she chuckled, leaning closer until their noses were almost touching, “that was really good.”

  Understanding swept over Momo’s features, and Mina felt the fingers between her own relax. A shy smile tugged at the corners of her lips, and it was all Mina could do to restrain herself there and then.

  “But,” she continued, stopping herself from kissing the furrow that appeared between Momo’s brows, “I can think of something better.”

  Apprehension bloomed across Momo’s face, eyes guarded in suspicion at the playful lilt of Mina’s lips and the barely restrained mischief in her eyes.

  “Like what?”

  The smirk stretched into a full blown grin.

  “Like kissing my girlfriend.”

  And she surged forward, claiming soft, pink lips in a long overdue declaration of love and need. Her mind had clouded over long before, but all she could think of was the overwhelming taste of strawberry on Momo’s lips, and the eager hand clutching the lapel of her shirt to pull her closer, to angle a _little_ better and press a _little_ firmer.

  She broke away as soon as it began, wide grin reappearing at the dazed expression on Momo’s face. She pressed another feather light kiss to her nose, taking a mental note on the way she scrunched it up as she did so.

  “Thoughts?” Mina asked casually, leaning back in her seat to take a sip of her own milkshake (that may or may not still have been full). She slid a leg between Momo’s under the table, absentmindedly stroking her ankle with her foot.

  The shy apprehension on Momo’s face had disappeared, and if the look in her eyes now was anything similar to Mina’s then she felt a _little_ sorry because the feeling in her stomach was almost too much to bare. Momo leaned forwards over the table, echoing Mina’s movements just moments before and got tantalizingly close before taking a sip of Mina’s shake. She pursed her lips, mulling over the taste in her mouth before a smirk broke out.

   _Well that’s a dangerous weapon she has._

  “I think,” Momo began, getting closer until their noses almost touched, half-lidded eyes inches from her own, “I think I need a second taste.”

  And she closed the gap, kissing her sweetly like she could pour everything she felt into her actions rather than words. Mina smiled into the kiss, sure that Momo could feel it from the way her own lips quirked upwards.

  They sat there, in Moe’s milkshake bar minutes before closing, legs intertwined underneath the table and taking quick sips of their shakes between stolen kisses and tender glances, like they couldn’t believe what had just transpired.

  ( _Sana could. She’s been waiting for it for about six god damn years.)_

 

* * *

 

  Momo is twenty years old when she wakes up in a bed not her own but just as warm and familiar, rolling back into the arms of the girl she loves to combat the chill of winter and snuggling her head against her chest. She feels Mina stir, arms tightening around her a little before she pressed a lazy kiss to the top of her head and nuzzled down, burrowing them both deeper into the duvet. She feels like they’ve done this a couple of dozen times before, and she drifts back to a dream of strawberry stardust searing through the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you like it?  
> hope you did, because i potentially might post a little more??? like i have some scenes that i wanted to include but i didnt in case it got a little congested so what i MIGHT do is post another fic with like outtakes and oneshots from this little universe???  
> also im a moron and wrote the last scene before i wrote literally any other part of the story, so this whole story was just me trying to do it justice and make it sort of fit???  
> anyways, until next time, tiffatologist -CLOSE-

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be my longest work yet, so there's that I guess  
> @tiffatologist on twitter xox  
> Tell me if you liked it <33


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